| Do you think the fact that by 1896 Jews constituted the majority of the population in Jerusalem while Muslims dominated its political life and were able to restrict property/land sales to Jews might have something to do with who owned the property/land? Ruhi Khalidi, a Jerusalem official and scion of one of the most prominent Palestinian Arab families, repeatedly stated that the Jews had no right to own land in Palestine because the "Jews were not here when we conquered the country." ((Marcus, Jerusalem 1913, Viking, 2007, p. 80). Nevertheless, when it suited their purposes, prominent Palestinian Arabs did sell to Jews. As one prominent Arab attorney at the time put it: "What a great discrepancy there is between what people say and what they do. They sell land and speculate in it and afterward shout and protest and demand that the government pass a law that forbids them to sell land." (Segev, One Palestine, Complete, 2000, p. 275). |
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